Tag "Coal"

At the belt and road summit in Beijing, leaders talked up sustainable development, while investors forged ahead with polluting power projects in partner countries Investment deals emerging from China’s belt and road summit 25-27 April show continued support for controversial coal projects, despite leaders’ green rhetoric.
The official round-up of conference outcomes highlighted Chinese involvement in a recently opened coal mine and 660MW power plant in Thar desert, Pakistan; and Vietnam’s 1,200MW Nam Dinh coal power station.
Media reports and company announcements also flagged coal projects in Turkey, Cambodia and Indonesia, as compiled by Greenpeace campaigner Yan Wang.
Most announcements signalled advancement on existing projects, rather than new deals.
The remarks respond to rising concern about the carbon footprint of China’s coal power spree abroad, which risks blowing international climate goals.
Some 25 countries signed up to a “green development coalition” in Beijing, while 28 joined the “belt and road energy partnership”.
Imran Khan adviser: Pakistan to apply strict green rules on Chinese coal deals Pakistan was one of the few nations with a foot in both camps.
The vast majority of Chinese investment in Pakistan continues to flow into energy: mostly coal, followed by hydroelectric, grid, solar and wind power installations.
Financial partners include China Development Bank and Bank of China, who on Thursday signed up to voluntary green investment principles.
The Silk Road Fund invested in the DEWA 950MW concentrated solar power park in Dubai, while the Export-Import Bank of China signed a loan agreement for solar PV and hydroelectric projects with Argentina’s finance ministry.

All 84 of the country’s coal-fired power plants will be shut down over the 19-year time frame, a government-appointed commission announced Saturday, according to The Los Angeles Times.
It’s a significant move as nearly 40 percent of Germany’s electricity comes from coal-fired power plants. “This is a historic accomplishment,” Ronald Pofalla, one of four commission leaders, announced at a news conference after more than 20 hours of negotiations. “It was anything but a sure thing.
But we did it,” he added.
The commission’s plan provides about $45 billion in aid to coal-producing regions affected by the phase-out.
Renewable energy replaced coal as Germany’s main power source for the first time last year, accounting for 41 percent of the country’s electricity, according to Reuters. “Delaying coal exit until 2038 would put Germany behind other leading European economies including France and the United Kingdom, both members of the Powering Past Coal Alliance.
The alliance includes 30 governments (of those 11 are EU member states), 22 provinces and cities and 28 transnationals, who pledged to phase out coal by 2030.”
Germany is the only EU country to announce #coal phase out later than 2030, setting dangerous precedent; should exi… https://t.co/KNDXCis4BV — Climate Analytics (@CA_Latest) 1548508693.0 Greenpeace International also tweeted that “there’s a problem” with a coal exit by 2038: That’s too late to stop worsening climate change.

Trump is losing his rallying cry to save coal.
The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) voted on Thursday to retire two coal-fired power plants in the next few years despite a plea from the president to keep one of the plants open.
But the TVA board of directors voted 5-2 in favor of closing that plant as well as the Bull Run plant in Tennessee.
Coal is an important part of our electricity generation mix and @TVAnews should give serious consideration to all f… https://t.co/yljvUmkAE5 — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) 1549922605.0 After the vote, the agency tweeted that the decision to close the plants “will ensure continued reliable power at the lowest cost feasible.”
So the board’s decision to close the plants wasn’t even based on coal being the most polluting energy source.
But coal plants are closing at a rapid pace because of economics and competing power sources.
One of the “no” votes came from Trump-appointee Kenny Allen, a retired coal exec from Kentucky. “I’m just not completely comfortable with the recommendation because the impact and ripple effect on community cannot be fully quantified,” he said, as quoted by the AP.
But Johnson, TVA’s CEO, said 40 percent of the plant employees whose jobs will be displaced are eligible for retirement, and added that those who want to stay could be offered jobs elsewhere in the utility, the Chattanooga Times Free Press wrote.
TVA said on Twitter, “We will work with impacted employees and communities.”

China has said it will not approve wind and solar power projects unless they can compete with coal power prices.
Beijing pulled the plug on support for large solar projects, which had been receiving a per kWh payment, in late May.
That news came immediately after the country’s largest solar industry event and caught everyone by surprise.
Officials are understood to have been frustrated at seeing Chinese suppliers and engineering firms building solar projects overseas that delivered electricity at prices far below what was available back home.
The country also has its own issues with grid logjams.
In 2017 12% of wind generation and 6% of solar was curtailed.
Technical specifications will ensure that the highest standards are met on that front.
In the past, provincial authorities have spent heavily to bankroll uncompetitive solar manufacturers.
Thursday’s announcement warned that any attempt to use project subsidies to invest in “local factories” or to make the use of locally made components a condition of the subsidy.
Full story here h/t to The GWPF From The Daily Caller 12:01 PM 12/31/2018 | Energy Michael Bastasch | Energy Editor 2018 saw a global revolt against policies aimed at fighting global warming Australia, Canada, France and the U.S. have all seen push back against global warming policies That included weeks of riots in France against planned carbon tax increases Despite increasingly…

In its latest attack on clean air protections, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released its new proposal to weaken the Obama-era Mercury & Air Toxics Standards (MATS), putting public health at risk from more than 80 dangerous pollutants, some of which are known to cause brain damage in children. “This is an unconscionable rollback to serve the coal industry at the expense of all Americans, especially our children,” said John Walke, director of NRDC’s Clean Air program. “And it says EPA’s just fine with allowing brain poisons mercury and lead and toxic carcinogens to fill our skies.”
In fact, MATS delivers up to $90 billion in health benefits.
Nearly everyone supports the standards—including utilities that have already invested $18 billion for pollution-control equipment and are complying with the rules at nearly every coal- and oil-burning power plant in the country.
The standards’ few opponents include coal and industry executives.
In particular, coal tycoon Bob Murray, the head of Murray Energy, has long been pushing for a rollback—going so far as to include it in a wish list to the Trump administration soon after inauguration. “[This rollback] is absurd, it’s dangerous, and we’ll fight to stop this rollback with every available tool,” Walke said.
Trump’s EPA Wants to Build More Coal Plants as U.S.
Consumption Falls to Lowest Level in 39 Years https://t.co/jJLRVvLP8R — Josh Fox (@joshfoxfilm) 1544366049.0

The IEA’s Coal 2018 report finds that global coal demand grew by 1 percent in 2017 after two years of decline.
In other words, global coal demand is growing, but is still below “peak” levels seen in 2014.
This year’s six-year forecast is the first to project a small decline in global coal demand by 2021—suggesting IEA is moving away from forecasting ongoing growth in demand. ‘Two Europes’ The projected plateau and slow decline of global demand in the coming years is partly the result of efforts to move away from coal in western Europe and North America, the authors say.
Differences in coal phase-out policy in countries across Europe.
Across the EU, coal consumption declined by 1.1 percent to 627m tonnes in 2017.
The report projects that, in the EU, coal demand will drop 2.5 percent per year, from 325m tonnes of coal equivalent (mtce) in 2017 to 280 mtce in 2023.
This rise was largely fueled by an increase in coal-fired power generation, the report says.
These measures, along with China’s commitment to investing in renewable energy and energy efficiency, led the IEA to project an overall decline in demand in China—despite the growth seen in 2017.
This year, the IEA has once again cut its forecast for coal demand growth in India.

Wind, solar, hydro and biogas met 36.3% of electricity demand in the first half of 2018, industry data show, while coal dropped to 35.1% of the mix Renewable energy sources satisfied more of Germany’s power demands than coal during the first half of 2018, marking a shift towards clean power as the Bundesrepublik continues to debate how best to phase out coal.
According to data released on Tuesday (10 July) by the German Association of Energy and Water Industries (BDEW), wind, solar, hydropower and biogas met 36.3% of Germany’s electricity needs between January and June 2018, while coal provided just 35.1%.
In comparison to the same period in 2017, renewables only met 32.5% in the first six months of last year, with coal generating 38.5%.
Experts say this was partly due to favourable weather conditions and lower consumption.
Scratch beneath the surface and Germany still has a big problem: emissions are not falling, despite progress in building up renewable energy capacity.
Coal power plants also remain online and recent research by British climate NGO Sandbag showed that seven of Germany’s lignite power stations are among the top ten CO2 polluters in Europe.
The next meeting of the expert group will be held on Friday (13 July).
Future planning EU negotiators recently wrapped up talks on three crucial clean energy files, including updates to the renewables and energy efficiency directives.
During the talks, Germany’s revamped government emerged as a obstacle to more progressive member states.
EU climate boss Miguel Arías Cañete, speaking at the event, revealed that the Commission will come out with a number of Paris Agreement scenarios that will show “a range of ambition”.

The Trump administration’s plan to bail out coal and nuclear industries could cause one American death from pollution for every two to four additional coal jobs generated over the next two years, according to new research.
A study released Thursday from Resources for the Future, a nonpartisan think tank, finds that the plan could cause between 353 to 815 premature deaths between 2019 and 2020 while generating fewer than 800 coal jobs.
The study also finds that the plan would increase CO2 emissions by 22 million tons, or roughly the same amount as 4.3 million additional cars on the road.
As reported by Bloomberg: Although nuclear power does not generate carbon dioxide that drives climate change, burning coal does—and the possible federal intervention would boost those emissions by 22 million short tons over two years, the analysis finds.
The administration is justifying its push to subsidize coal and nuclear power plants on national security grounds, with Trump touting coal as bomb proof during a visit to a West Virginia charity dinner on Tuesday. “You bomb a pipeline, that’s the end of the pipeline,” Trump said. “With coal, that stuff is indestructible.”
Trump Administration Plans Costly Taxpayer Bailout of Unprofitable Energy Industries https://t.co/oDn4G7Fl6S… https://t.co/ZyvbkH6beZ — EcoWatch (@EcoWatch) 1527870150.0 For a deeper dive: For more climate change and clean energy news, you can follow Climate Nexus on Twitter and Facebook, and sign up for daily Hot News.

Falling battery costs will allow for renewable power to grow rapidly, analysts predict, replacing traditional baseload generation Wind turbines or solar panels with batteries will be able to provide on-demand power cheaper than old coal plants in China by 2028, analysts at Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) predict.
That will enable grids to integrate more variable renewables and ultimately end reliance on coal, gas, and nuclear to meet peak demand.
By 2050, the report predicts 71% of electricity worldwide will be generated by carbon-neutral sources, with 50% coming from renewables.
Rechargeable, high-energy density lithium-ion batteries are the main focus of this analysis.
There are several different types of lithium battery on the market with varying lifetimes.
David Howey, an engineering science professor at Oxford University, told Climate Home News lithium-ion technology is going to be “with us for at least ten years, possibly even beyond.” “The growth we’re seeing at the moment is spectacular,” Howey said.
“But there’s a long way to go and we have to be honest about that.
It’s really difficult to predict what’s going to happen in 2050.” Supplies of raw materials are critical, he added, and the sector needs to plan for end-of-life recycling.
A typical on-grid battery lasts around ten years, charging and discharging three times a day.
BNEF predicts Europe will lead the wind and solar power boom, with the sources predicted to make up 87% of the generation mix by 2050.

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